From the desk of Harsh Strongman
Subj: Health and Fitness for busy people
One thing everyone can agree about living in the modern day is that you’re going to have a busy, fast-paced life.
I receive this question all the time:
I’m working 13 hours a day Harsh, how do I find the time to workout?
Maybe you’re too busy with your business, maybe you have 2 hour long commutes and 10 hour workdays, maybe you’re a student balancing your part-time job with your classes, maybe you’re a busy housewife taking care of 2 kids – we can all agree that life is busy, and there’s going to be days where you don’t have the time to go to the gym.
Whatever the case, when push comes to shove, people focus on more immediate problems – hustling to make that sale, working your butt off for that promotion, getting your kids ready for school, preparing that client pitch presentation.
Health takes a backseat.
This is understandable, but in the long term, deadly.
No matter how busy you are, you need to find some time to exercise – the human body was not meant to sit in a chair all day.
You need to figure out how much time you can squeeze out of your day – an hour is great, 45 minutes is good, half an hour is okay, and 15 minutes is the bare minimum.
With that said, if you can squeeze just 15 minutes off your day, you can still do quite a bit with it.
Ideally, try to find time in the morning right before you take a bath – this way you can save some time by not having to bathe twice (exercise will leave you sweaty).
Here is the workout I do on busy days:
1. 100 Squats (15 minutes)
2. 60 Pushups (15 minutes)
3. 100 Situps (10 minutes) + 1 minute Plank (3 sets with 1-minute breaks in between sets) (5 minutes) [Totals 15 minutes]
4. A full body stretching routine (15 minutes)
This pretty much covers all essential portions of your body, and if you’re doing only this much, you should be fine – you won’t be as good as the guy who spends 2 hours in the gym every day, but you’ll be leaps and bounds ahead of the average guy.
If you can manage only 15 minutes, alternate the above 4 over 4 days.
If you can manage 30 minutes, alternate the above over 2 days. (Squats and pushups on one day / situps, planks and stretching on day 2)
And so on.
(Also, if you’re going to be sitting and working all day, remember to get up and stretch your legs every hour or two. Sitting for long periods of time can cause nasty blood clots in the legs.)
Remember, your choices add up over time.
When it comes to health, consistency beats randomness.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Until Next Time,
Harsh Strongman